Officials: Islamic State biggest threat since 9/11

WASHINGTON – The Islamic State presents the greatest terrorist threat to Americans since 9/11, and fighting it will take more than airstrikes in Iraq, according to a top member of Congress and a retired four-star general.

The Islamic State, also referred to as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, has vaulted in notoriety after the beheading of American journalist James Foley last week.

“I do think they present the greatest threat we’ve seen since 9/11,” McCaul said.

“The American people — it has sort of opened their eyes to what ISIS really is, the true character of ISIS, how savage they really are and — and their intent to harm Americans,” he said.

Meanwhile, retired Marine Gen. John Allen, who served in Iraq and commanded all allied forces in Afghanistan, said attacking ISIS support areas in Syria will be necessary to defeating them. The limited U.S. airstrikes that have helped Kurdish and Iraqi forces retake a strategic dam near Mosul in Northern Iraq are not enough, he said.

A regional approach with a coalition of regional allies, bolstered by U.S. special operations forces, will be required to hit ISIS hard enough, Allen said.

“We’ve been very clear that we don’t want to put American maneuver forces necessarily, conventional maneuver forces back on the ground, but we have really significant capabilities to provide special operators into these formations, both at the tribal level, some of the more recently emerging Sunni conventional forces that are appearing in northwest Iraq, the Free Syrian Army, and Sunni tribes in Syria.”

In a recent interview with USA Today, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said options are being considered beyond the current round of airstrikes, although he declined to be specific.

Since Aug. 8 and Saturday, U.S. Central Command has conducted a total of 94 airstrikes across Iraq.